flickr photo: Laurel Fan
Who hasn’t been told to cut down on fatty food, cholesterol, salt, sugar, and “practically everything that tastes good”. After a while, people just ignore these warnings because it seems that there is nothing healthy left to eat. After several decades of “negative” nutritional messages, messages encouraging people to eat foods with positive nutrients are becoming more prevalent. Products are not just touting low fat content, they are also boasting high levels of fiber, omega-3, and other goodies.
One group that has been an active player in the “Yes to good food” camp rather than the “No to bad food” approach is the Nutrient Rich Foods Coalition. The NRFC is a not-for-profit organization that represents for-profit commodity growers in the US, including the National Dairy Council, the California Avocado Commission, the Wheat Council, and others. All 5 major food groups are in.
We recently spoke with Dr Greg Miller, a spokesperson for the NRFC. Dr Miller is an executive vice president of the National Dairy Council. In our conversation we discussed the coalition’s approach to nutrition information, as well as dairy specific issues (we’ll write about those in a separate post).
The Nutrient Rich Foods Coalition formed about 5 years ago with the goal of creating a paradigm shift in nutrition education. The idea is to move away from 30 years of negatives, to a more encouraging focus on foods with maximum good nutrients per calorie. Some foods pack lots of health into a low number of calories. Others, called junk foods, fill people up with empty calories. The coalition funded several academic studies to explore various ways of defining which foods are nutrient dense and which are not.
An algorithm that was developed by Professor Adam Drewnowski, Director, Nutritional Sciences Program, at the University of Washington, exemplifies this approach. Called NRF9.3, this algorithm uses a food product’s levels of 9 nutrients to encourage and 3 nutrients to limit, and then calculates a nutrition score. The nutrients are those appearing on a packaged food’s nutrition label. They are protein, fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium, fats, sodium, and sugars.
Various products can be compared based on their nutrition score. According to Dr. Miller, the algorithm has been validated against the Healthy Eating Index and found to have statistically significant correlations between high scoring foods and better health.
The NRFC is taking an approach similar to that of NuVal / ONQI which we covered a few weeks ago. However, NRFC does not have a retail roll-out planned at this time. The organization is currently focused on educational and informational activities.
Cynics will say that any organization representing the food industry will prefer messages that encourage eating more (even if more of good foods) rather than messages of “eating less”, this despite the fact that most Americans need to reduce their daily caloric intake. What is clear to the NRFC, as well as anybody dealing with nutrition today, is that consumers are confused about what to eat and what not to eat. They will welcome a solution that makes it easier to choose better foods. And if a system that encourages eating real foods works for people, great.
Some suggestions from the NRFC include:
– Savor the first few bites of any dish. Top foods with chopped nuts or reduced-fat shredded sharp cheese to get crunch, flavor and nutrients in every bite.
— Spend a few minutes to cut and bag veggies to increase nutrients in the diet of every family member. Try some ready-to-eat favorites like red, green or yellow peppers, broccoli or cauliflower flowerets, carrots, celery sticks, cucumber, snap peas or whole radishes. Keep cut vegetables handy to use as mid-afternoon snacks, side dishes, lunch box additions or as a quick nibble while waiting for dinner.
— Serve meals that pack multiple nutrient-rich foods into one dish, like hearty, broth-based soups that’s full of colorful vegetables, beans, lean meat, or chill with a dollop of low-fat yogurt on top. Serve these with whole grain breads or rolls.
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